So I haven’t posted here as much as I should, and hope to alter that in the next few weeks. There are things I know I should be writing about (Like, for example, Fringe. Which is a great, great SciFi show. It has heart and a parallel universe and an ancient and mysterious machine.)

But I’m breaking my silence today to relate onto thee, treasured listener, of a really cool thing I was able to facilitate the weekend before last.

A little bit back I got an email from Susan (aka Georgia), who lives in Washington, D.C. with her boyfriend Christie (aka Xie). (Yes, boyfriend. As Susan explained in an early email, “Australians have flexible ideas on what counts as a dude’s name.”)

Like many people who email me, she is a fan of Escape Pod. Unlike many¹ people who email me, she wanted Escape Pod’s help asking her boyfriend, Christie, to marry her.

They listen to Escape Pod together, and apparently Steve Eley fills a void in Christie’s life that others of us fill with Dan Savage or Dear Prudence. The relationship advice columnist void. Get your mind out of the gutter treasured listener.

So we did it, and awoke Steve from his deep slumber. And I spliced it quickly into a copy of EP278 Written On the Wind and sent our favorite robot speeding her way with it.

The text is below, but I’m sure many of you would prefer listening to Steve read it, so click here.

Hi, this is Steve Eley.  Rising from the deep for a special announcement.  There’s a lot going on in the world, but some things are more important than others.  Some of the most important things involve just two people.  Could be any two people, but let’s say two people from the United States and Australia.  Let’s say these two people are in love.  There’s almost nothing more important than that.

They’d have a lot of challenges, these two people.  They’d spend a lot of time on planes.  They’re in love, so it’s worth it.  And maybe they listen to Escape Pod on the plane.  Maybe when they’re together, they listen to Escape Pod together, too.  Making dinner, or walking the kitten.  It’s clearly not the most important thing, but anything two people do together can be special.  And if one of those two people asks us to help, with the most important question — that’s VERY special.  It’s special enough to bring me up out of retirement.  But what’s special is what you two have.

So.  Christie.  I’m talking to you.  Georgia wants to know: will you marry her?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled outro.  Have Fun — and I _hope_ you say yes.

And as Susan emailed me soon after:

He said yes. :) (Or rather… “Well if Steve Eley thinks I should, then of course I will!”)

Thank you so much. And give my thanks to every else too!

And Xie say thanks as well. He didn’t see it coming… He kept saying “that’s just like us!” until, finally, he realized it was us.

¹Really, everyone else. So far.